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This week, McKinsey & Company published a reporttitled "The Case for Digital Reinvention". IMHO this is such a hugely important research article that I need to tell you why.

The research was conducted in an effort to gain a clearer picture of where digitization stands today and the affects it will have on companies, jobs and the ecosystem. And, although the research yielded quite a few valuable outputs, I would rather you read the report for the statistics and stick with me for just a moment to find out what resonated with me when I read through it.

The major, exciting message for me - and I gather for McKinsey - in this research summary is that:

"Bold, tightly integrated digital strategies will be the biggest differentiator between companies that win and companies that don’t, and the biggest payouts will go to those that initiate digital disruptions. Fast-followers with operational excellence and superior organizational health won’t be far behind."

Yes! For me, this sums up everything that ITOA, ITSM, ITOps, DevOps and the entire extended family that relates to bridging the gap between business and technology - strategically - are all about. Because, going digital can't, or rather shouldn't, be about taking baby steps.

Studies like and including McKinsey's are telling us that companies that make a decision to introduce digital into only some aspects of the organization, or to address specific business problems with isolated technological solutions, are ultimately unsuccessful at attaining the goals they set out to meet.

It's true, "digital reinvention", as coined by McKinsey, can be overwhelming and necessarily costly, but the need is there, your competition is or will be doing it, your customers will be demanding it and any business looking to grow will struggle to survive without it.

The question is not whether to digitalize but rather how to go about it. McKinsey's statement - backed by some really interesting insights - hits the nail on the head for me ; go big or go home. The digital transformation requires a strategic decision to transform the organization and its processes in order to both survive and thrive.

I won't go so far as to say "digital is a frame of mind", but Digital today is everything - the frame and the mind. In the enterprise world, it's both changing and improving the way that people communicate, the way they work and even where. Companies are harnessing Digital to adapt, namely, to their customer’s digital behavior, and to improve their service and operations internally. Sales and marketing have been transformed completely for those who choose to embrace technology. But implementing new business models does not work without a change in the technologies that support their delivery. Everything 'digital' in the company has to be aligned with its counterparts across the organization.

What's new about this evolutionary step in business is that this one also requires the adoption of innovative technologies and this where the "bold" comes in. 'How to go digital' refers not only to the strategic frame of mind, but also to the tools and technologies that are at your disposal to meet your needs. And from a business perspective, all of these digital technologies, from social, to mobile, to analytics and the cloud - are very young.

The good news is that companies in the mature stages of the Digital Transformation are already achieving reinvention. Those that will be bold enough to commence their transformation with this approach in mind - embracing advanced technologies and integrating them tightly across their entire operations - are seeing a real return on investment.

On the other hand, we are seeing a relatively high success rate with enterprise digital transformation. What is the one element that has enabled your company's successful transformation or contributed to its struggle?